Laws are what keep society from degenerating into anarchy. Laws define what one person is allowed to do so as not to step on the rights of other persons. Without laws, our society would be chaos. And without lawyers and law careers, there would be no one to help us interpret the laws and make sure that they are correctly enforced by those whose job is it is to enforce them. Law careers are the very fabric of polite society. They are what make it possible for us to live together in harmony.
Do you want a career in the law? There are a number of different types of jobs that law colleges, in one way or another, represent law careers. Let's consider a few:
Lawyer: Lawyers begin their law careers by spending quite a few years in school learning the huge body of rules and regulations, from the Constitution on down, that makes up the U.S. legal code. Lawyers also learn how those laws are interpreted in the courts and the ways in which it is permissible, under the national and state constitutions, to enforce them. Lawyers can specialize in a large number of different types of law: criminal law, civil law, corporate law, real estate law, media law, divorce law, and any of a number of other specialties. Some lawyers, rather than specializing, spend their law careers working in most or all of these areas. Some lawyers work in private practice and handle cases for individuals; others work for corporations, plying their trade full time for that corporation's legal concerns. Lawyers must pass the bar exam in the state where they wish to work before they can practice.
Paralegal: A paralegal does not have a full law degree but possesses sufficient knowledge and education in the field to assist lawyers in their work. Paralegals generally work under the direct supervision of a lawyer during their law careers but are not legally able to perform many of the tasks that a lawyer can or represent themselves as a lawyer.
Legal secretary: A legal secretary, unlike the usual administrative assistants found in corporate offices, must have knowledge of legal documents and how to create, file, and assist in researching them. Legal secretaries must correctly use specialized legal terms (and often specialized legal characters not found on ordinary keyboards) and draw information from libraries of case law under the supervision of a lawyer or paralegal.
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